Business

ATLANTA -- The Technology Association of Georgia and its Education Collaborative has announced the finalists for this year's Georgia STEM Education Awards.

The finalists were chosen from more than 170 applicants across eight categories.

"Recent studies show that Georgia will need to fill approximately 211,000 STEM-related jobs by 2018," TAG president and CEO Tino Mantella said in a statement. "The 2013 Georgia STEM Education Awards finalists are helping to prepare the tech-ready workforce to fill these jobs, and we applaud them for standing out as leaders in Georgia's educational community."

The award winners will be announced Sept. 27 at the second annual Georgia STEM Education Awards event in Savannah.

ATLANTA -- The Judicial Council of Georgia Domestic Violence Committee awarded a grant on Friday that will go towards the work of nine nonprofit organizations in and near Atlanta.

The grant of almost $1.6 million will help bring legal services to around 4,500 people with low income around Georgia who have suffered from domestic violence and are working to bounce back. A spokeswoman for the Judicial Council reported that the funds are given each year to develop domestic violence training and legal services for victims.

According to the spokeswoman, not included are divorces, deportations and other matters which are not related with the victim's safety, along with economic security.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – R. K. Redding Construction (RKR) of Bremen, Ga., a full service, multi-disciplinary construction management and general construction contracting firm, received two awards from AGC Georgia, the statewide chapter of The Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. (AGC of America) at its “Build Georgia” award ceremony in Hilton Head Island, SC. The firm’s work on the Trinka Davis Veteran’s Village was recognized with a First Place Award in the construction division and a Merit Award for best sustainable practices.

“The Trinka Davis project was an exciting and humbling one for RKR, since we knew this facility would serve as a home to many military veterans in the area,” said Randall Redding, President/CEO of RKR. “We are certainly honored to receive these awards but, besides those men and women whom the facility will serve, the true hero is Trinka Davis, whose gift made this facility a reality.”

BREMEN, Ga. – R. K. Redding Construction (RKR), a full service, multi-disciplinary construction management and general construction contracting firm, had seven of its supervisors receive the prestigious Ron Amerson Supervisors’ Safety Award from the AGC Georgia, the statewide Chapter of The Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. (AGC of America) at the 17th annual award ceremony.

The Ron Amerson Supervisors’ Safety Awards program is designed to recognize AGC of America members’ supervisors for outstanding contributions to safety on their jobsites. The measurement criterion is based on safety incidence rates for individual supervisors in conjunction with actual man-hours directly supervised by each employee. Only those supervisors who showed a commitment to outstanding safety are eligible.

During the contest, life-size cutouts of participating Coca-Cola Racing Family members will be placed in FIrehouse Subs locations. Firehouse Subs guests can snap a photo with the cutout and submit it to win. Guests can submit photos via text to cocacolaphotofinish.com, or entries can be mailed.

CARROLLTON, Ga. -- A University of West Georgia senior is one of only 30 students nationwide invited to participate in this year's Enactus United States Partner Summit.

Brittany Thompson beat out hundreds of her peers to attend the summit in New York City.

"The summit was an invaluable and remarkable experience," Thompson said in a statement. "I had access to a vast amount of networking opportunities at a highly professional level."

Thompson is UWG's Enactus president. During the summit, she attended forums on topics like leadership experience, community empowerment and goal attainment. She also met lots of heavy-hitters in the business world, including Walmart Central Executive VP and President Mike Moore.

ATLANTA -- Bank of America Corp. reported Wednesday it hit its target of hiring more that 1,000 small business bankers in 2012, including 35 in Metro Atlanta.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said it extended $280.2 million in credit to Georgia small businesses and $8.7 billion nationally last year. The $8.7 billion was an increase of 28 percent over 2011.

It recently reported net income of $2.8 billion for 2012. It also saw its head count shrink by about 5,000 employees to 267,190 in the fourth quarter, evidence that BofA is still trimming staff levels as it works to lower its expenses. Branches also continued to close, with BofA reporting 5,478 banking centers across its U.S. franchise at the end of the year, down from 5,702 centers a year earlier.

Bank of America is the third-largest bank in metro Atlanta with 145 local branches and $20.4 billion in area deposits for a market share of 17 percent.